| Medieval liturgical drama, whose existence was first acknowledged in an English ceremonial put together around 970 for the Benedictine order, brings to life the most frequent images illustrating sacred history. Created from the trope, it was conceived as a new expansion of the liturgy, in the same way as a profusely illustrated capital supposed an enrichment of a more soberly ornamented one. Although the cases are not precisely the same, liturgical drama can be compared to opera, which is its most extreme consequence: it is an integral art form in which image, sound and text are combined to make up one of the most unique artistic manifestations of the Middle Ages.
With respect to the practice of liturgical drama in Spain, curiously almost 1000 years after its first appearance, it is still possible to attend two performances directly associated with it: the Song of the Sibyl, which was discussed in issue Goldberg 12 and the Mystery Play of Elche, (Misteri d'Elx, in Catalan), a dramatisation of the Assumption rooted in the strictest medieval tradition. Both constitute a kind of living testimony to the past whose importance is exceptional today, when music is dominated by historicism, with a predilection for music of the past in preference to the music of the present written by «classical» composers. |
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